Off-duty Arkansas police officer aids Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper in arrests, authorities say - Arkansas Online

An off-duty Van Buren police officer driving with his family in Oklahoma on Friday aided in the arrest of several suspects when he spotted a state trooper struggling with a man on the side of the road and pulled over to help.

Cpl. Chase DeCroo, 32, was returning home to Arkansas with his family when he spotted a trooper with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol fighting with a man near the community of Newport, Okla., authorities said.

Newport is about 99 miles south of Oklahoma City.

According to Sarah Stewart, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, when Chase DeCroo he got out of his car, a woman at the scene got into a stolen vehicle and fled, with the trooper in pursuit.

As the trooper left, Chase DeCroo held the man the trooper had grappled with and a second suspect at gunpoint until additional law enforcement personnel arrived and took the two into custody, Stewart said.

Stewart did not identify the suspects and said she did not immediately know why they were pulled over.

“Honestly, it was just a reaction,” the corporal said. “I saw a brother in need, and everything else at that point was just a secondary consideration.”

In a Facebook post, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol praised the officer's decision to provide support. "His quick thinking while not even on duty greatly helped out OHP in the traffic stop and ensuing high speed chase,” the post states.

Petra DeCroo, Chase DeCroo's wife, was inside the car with their two sons, ages 1 and 4, when the corporal pulled over. Though her husband had been involved with law enforcement since they’ve been together, she said Friday’s incident was an entirely new experience.

“I’m used to it and I’m around it, but not in a situation like that, where I was more worried that he was going to do something or the guy might have had a gun, that that’s what they were fighting over,” Petra DeCroo said. “We didn’t know.”

According to Petra DeCroo, their 1-year-old son was asleep throughout, but his older brother could see the encounter play out through the window of their car. Naturally, she said, he was curious about what was going on.

“It’s hard because you want to explain it to a 4-year-old [in a way] that’s not going to scare them that something could happen,” she said. The woman said she tried to distract the boy in case they needed to drive off quickly to get out of harm’s way.

In spite of the danger, Petra DeCroo said she was glad her husband stopped to aid the trooper.

“That’s what he does,” she said. “That’s what he’s trained to do.”

Chase DeCroo has been an officer with the Van Buren Police Department since July 2008, Sgt. Jonathan Wear, a spokesman for the Van Buren department, said. He recently became a school resource officer. Wear said the corporal has received numerous certificates of appreciation during his career with the department and is a member of its honor guard and SWAT team.

Outside of law enforcement, Chase DeCroo is a justice of the peace in the Crawford County Quorum Court and served in the National Guard for six years, including a tour in Afghanistan.

The corporal said his support of the trooper was a natural response to what he saw.

“Anyone else would’ve done the same thing, I think,” he said. “I just happened to be the first one there and the first one available to help."

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